The Labor federal government has "broken the back" of the people smuggling trade, Immigration Minister Tony Burke claims.
Mr Burke says it's clear the government's so-called Papua New Guinea Solution is making it hard for people smugglers to fill boats after two vessels, carrying 30 and 28 people respectively, were intercepted in the past 24 hours.
"These vessels would be capable of having many more people crammed on board," Mr Burke told reporters in Sydney on Monday.
The boats were the first to arrive in Australia since last Tuesday.
"What we have seen for some time now is that people smugglers have remained as desperate as ever to get boats off, but they've had increasing challenges in finding people who are willing to get on board, including people who had already paid," Mr Burke said.
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In July, the month that Labor announced boat arrivals would be processed and settled in Manus Island, 4236 asylum seekers travelled to Australia by boat.
In the following month, the number of asylum seekers arriving by boat fell to 1585.
Mr Burke said the population on Christmas Island is also falling for the first time, and the government no longer needs to go ahead with plans for more detention accommodation at Singleton in the NSW Hunter Valley.
He attributed the declining arrival numbers to Labor's PNG Solution, which includes sending families to Nauru.
Mr Burke said he was aware of a few more "operations" people smugglers were trying to introduce.
"While there will be a few more boats that will test our resolve, we have broken the back of the people smuggling trade".
The Department of Immigration and Citizenship (DIAC) also confirmed that 43 asylum seekers who arrived by boat this year were transferred to Nauru on Sunday.
The group of predominantly Iranian and Pakistani men departed Christmas Island on Sunday night and arrived in Nauru around 11am local time Monday, a DIAC statement said.
The group were transferred to the regional processing centre, where they will be accommodated while their refugee claims are processed by the Nauru government.
Mr Burke says Labor's new border protection policies are clearly working but the Coalition threatens to undermine that.
The federal Opposition says it would re-introduce temporary protection visas for people coming to Australia by boat and will never be settled in Australia.
Mr Burke says such a move will just put the people smugglers back in business
"I do not want a situation where what has been achieved and what has been seen over the last week is undone in one weeks' time and that is what putting temporary visas back on the table would do. It would send a message that people should simply wait until Sunday and then temporary visas would be back on the table."
